Cereal. And my love for it.

For lack of anything new to write, and also feeling pretty bored... here it is. An accolade to cereal, persay.

I LOVE cereal. I’ve loved it my whole life. I love sugary cereal. I love non-sugary cereal (I add my own sugar.) I love the name-brand cereals, like Lucky Charms. I love the Malt-o-Meal copycats, like Marshmallow Mateys. I love cereal for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And midnight. For our first Christmas, Nate gave me like 15 boxes of cereal. What can I say, I was thrilled.

I love cereal so much, I play little “games” with my cereal. This started when I was a wee child. Let me explain. I know I’m not the only one eating the marshmallows or “crunch berries” first—or saving them for last. BUT… probably not many people take the time to eat their cereal by color.

Yes, Game #1. I just cannot help it. When it comes to Trix, Fruit Loops, or the like… I eat them color by color. I begin by choosing a color. I then continue through the color spectrum. You know, I go from red, to purple, to blue, to green, to yellow… I have even been known to get rid of a couple colors completely, and then quiz Nate: “Which colors are gone?” Now I don’t think it’s THAT strange, because I don’t do it ALL the time. Alas, time does not permit me to do so. But if I do have the time, I really do enjoy this game. I think of it as savoring my cereal’s every goodness.

Okay Game #2. This game has actually been discontinued. I am very sad about it, but it was not my choice. So one of my favorite cereals in the whole world was Alphabits. I LOVED THEM! Then one day, and it has been a couple years, I bought some at the local Walmart. And guess what. They tasted TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I don’t know if it’s the new “whole grain” craze or what, I just know they have never been the same. I actually thought about writing a letter voicing my complaints. ANYWHO before this incident, I would, if you have not already guessed, eat them by letter. I can’t tell you how much fun this was! It didn’t even have to be in order, I would actually start with all the “bubbly” letters, like B, D, O, P, Q… and then just pick random letters from there. And as with the first game, I was not SO strict with myself that if another color or letter happened upon the spoon I would redo it. No, I allowed some variation. I didn’t want to take ALL day finishing up the bowl. In fact with both these games after I’d done a couple of colors, or letters, sometimes I’d just down the rest of it.

Okay I realize this is getting long and ridiculous. So let me sum up a couple of other things I’ve been known to do. Wheaties--or any other "flaky" cereal: so I’d pour the milk on and of course, sugar, and then I’d eat all the flakes on top—the driest ones--the ones with all the sugar on them, and then I’d eat the ones with partial milk on them until I was eating all the wet ones. Okay, Raisin Bran. With this cereal I let the box sit open for a few days because it tastes best when the raisins are hard and stale. I’m serious. Try it. And some cereal I must eat soggy. Like Grape Nuts. And Chex. They’re better that way.

I love cereal. I think we have all come to a better understanding of this. I am not obsessive-compulsive like this about anything else, I don’t think. But the other day, when Jenna refused to eat my homemade pizza for dinner and kept saying “Cereal! Cereal!” and proceeded to eat 3 bowls… I must say I found it… curious.